NEWARK – Delaware could be viewed as a football program that’s a couple years away from CAA championship contention, considering its youth and inexperience.

The true freshmen who make up second-year coach Dave Brock’s first recruiting class hold roughly one-third of the team’s 63 allotted scholarships. All of those first-year players who are on defense are likely to play immediately, Brock has said.

Brock wants to build his program from the bottom up, through recruiting, and rely less on the quick-fix nature of adding transfers that predecessor K.C. Keeler employed.

But Brock doesn’t expect the Blue Hens’ to limit their expectations, which, as always, center on vying for a league title and an NCAA playoff berth.

He’s looking for his 16 seniors to lead the way.

“We’ve got 16 guys with one year,” Brock said. “I’ve really talked to them about, ‘What do you want your legacy to be? How are you going to write it?’

“Ultimately, are they going to lead the pack? It’s the old saying, ‘The speed of the lead is the speed of the pack.’ They’re the leader of the locker room. Not one guy. We’ve got 16 guys who have their last at-bat, so to speak.’’

Certainly, there is no lack of incentive. There is just one Blue Hen who has playoff experience – fifth-year senior safety Jake Giusti, who was a true freshman on the 2010 NCAA runner-up team.

“The seniors don’t want to go out not playing in a playoff game,” senior quarterback Trent Hurley said. “That’s huge. That’s important in Delaware history. It’s important for the fans. It’s important for us as players.”

Delaware has missed the playoff three straight years, including last year when a 7-5 record included a three-game losing streak to close the season. One win likely would have put the Hens in the 24-team field.

Since the NCAA instituted playoffs for its lower-division football teams in 1973, Delaware has never been absent from the postseason four straight years. The only other time Delaware missed three straight years was 1983-85.

Certainly, the Blue Hens have a solid nucleus featuring the likes of Hurley, Giusti and proven seniors such as guard J.D. Dzurko, wideout Michael Johnson, tight end Nick Boyle, defensive ends Derrick Saulsberry and Laith Wallschleger and linebackers Pat Callaway and David Mackall. Wallschleger hasn’t practiced while still recovering from last fall’s knee surgery.

“Any season where we don’t make the playoffs is not what Delaware football is,” Boyle said, “and it’s not who we want to be . . . All of the seniors, everyone on the team, we want to do that.”

Freshman OT honored

Delaware freshman offensive tackle James Kretkowski, out of Mineola, New York, is among 36 finalists for the National Football Foundation’s 2014 High School National Scholar-Athlete Awards.

One player from each of five regions will be selected the week of Oct. 9. Kretkowski is among seven East nominees, each now a freshman on a college team, who were chosen for their success in athletics, academics and citizenship.

The five winners will be honored in New York City on Dec. 9.

Early recruits snared

While Brock has been thrilled with the potential of his first recruiting class, the UD coaching staff has apparently already begun building another.

According to various news and social media reports, Delaware has already received several verbal commitments from high school Class of 2015 prospects.

Two are twin brothers Patrick and M.J. Kehoe from Cheshire (Conn.) Academy. Patrick is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback who completed 193 of 300 passes (64.3 percent) for 3,294 yards and 39 touchdowns with just five interceptions last year. M.J. is a 6-6, 235-pound tight end who caught 26 passes for 356 yards and three touchdowns in 2013.

Another tight end who doubles as a defensive end, 6-3, 225-pound Christian Lohin of Archbishop Wood in Warminster, Pa., is also UD bound.

Delaware has also drawn from the Philadelphia area to land St. Joseph’s Prep 6-4, 260-pound offensive lineman Steven Robinson.

TD club kickoff set

The first of the Blue Hen Touchdown Club’s weekly luncheons is Thursday, Aug. 28, at the Carpenter Center. Brock will be guest speaker and take questions. An assistant coach will appear at the subsequent weekly gatherings.

Doors open at 11:15 a.m. for the noon event, which will also feature a video chalk talk on Aug. 30 opening day opponent Pittsburgh.

Cost is $20 for members, $25 for non-members.

Hen scratch

The Blue Hens will have what is termed a “mock game” Saturday at 4 p.m. at Delaware Stadium. It’s not a scrimmage, Brock pointed out. It’s a non-contact “procedural” exercise, he said, aimed more at correctly performing plays and honing various formations, including special teams . . . Former UD receiver Brett Veach, a pro and college scout for the Kansas City Chiefs, attended Thursday’s practice . . . Wide receiver Rob Jones, who closed his career last season 12th on Delaware’s all-time list with 1,558 pass-catching yards, has signed with the York (Pa.) Capitals of the American Indoor Football League, which plays in the spring . . . Jon Boone, a Milford native and UD graduate who’d been on the Blue Hens’ athletic training staff since 2011, is leaving for a position on the University of Florida staff.